Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 125852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125852 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 629(@200wpm)___ 503(@250wpm)___ 420(@300wpm)
“Pick a color.”
“Purple.”
He pretends to click the purple before backing out and clicking the folder labeled purple, and another page pops up. Four more boxes are on this page, but this time they are items.
A doll with a purple bow, a basketball with purple swirls, a paintbrush with purple dripping from the tip, and a little book with a purple elephant on the cover—toys, sports, art, and reading.
I look at the four boxes again, which can be interpreted by a child as either an interest in the animal on the cover or the book and idea of reading or having a story read to them. It really covers all the basics in an extremely profound way.
I pretend to click this time, choosing the little book, curious as to where it will lead in this test of his.
Alister smiles, scrolling to the last page, but it’s unfinished. There’s a diagram he’s created, little color-coded text bubbles breaking down his thought process.
I nod, reading over his random thoughts, and it’s pretty impressive. It’s easy to see what he’s trying to showcase.
“Alister, this is…” I look his way, not realizing how close we are until we’re both facing each other.
“It’s not the sharpest concept.”
“It’s perfect, simple in a complex way, and it makes sense. You’re breaking things down intellectually and for a purpose, but at the level a child can process, having no idea it’s essentially a test they’re taking, even if it is just one that helps the teacher rather than the child. This is really, really good.”
“Yeah?” Pride shines bright in his eyes, and I have the urge to reach out and touch him. To feel the smile lines along his temples and the hint of stubble on his jaw.
I hold my cup a little tighter. “How long did you stay up to work on this?”
He shrugs, glancing back at his computer, but I wait, and a few moments later, he faces me again. “I couldn’t really sleep so…”
My smile is slow, and the giddiness he has been known to stir inside me does its thing. “You wanted to impress me today, so you stayed up half the night to work on this.” It’s not a question, and Alister doesn’t answer because he sees it—what this means to me.
He can apologize until he’s blue in the face, make promises only time can prove the truth of, and shower me in honesty, but to embrace something I’m passionate about when he’s only just realized that I am?
It’s more than words. More than physical action.
It’s care in a rare sense.
He really is trying here, and his effort isn’t going unnoticed.
Quite the opposite as I think, maybe for the first time, that I’m seeing a side of him he’s never shared before.
There is no arrogance in his eyes, no cocky tilt to his lips. He’s not all about the game, and this thing between us isn’t a chase. I was already caught, after all, though the line broke before he could reel me in due to his own mistake.
No, this is a backward crawl, a pebbled path to friendship island. The only problem is we’ve already lost our shoes and the rocks on the way back are sharp.
Do I want to walk across them to meet him on the other side?
Alister offers a gentle smile, and I realize I’m staring right into his green eyes.
“Will you tell me what you’re thinking?” he whispers.
I swallow. “I’m not so sure if I should.”
Alister reaches out, pushing my hair from my face, his soft fingers gently grazing along my temples, tucking the loose, straight strands behind my ear.
His hand holds there a moment, and I find myself leaning into his touch, my eyes closing.
“I miss you, Cameron.”
“I know,” I breathe, forcing my eyes open, but when I do, it’s not Alister my gaze locks on.
It’s the brown-eyed man behind him.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Brady
She’s with him.
She’s with him and that should be perfectly fine.
It should be, so why exactly does it feel like I swallowed a balloon that’s blowing up inside me, taking up all the room, until all the air from my lungs is forced out like a solid hit to the chest?
That’s just fucking…weird.
I swallow, offering my best grin, and watch as Cameron’s posture pulls in, her shoulders hunching a bit.
Feeling guilty, baby girl? Why would that be?
I slide into the booth across from them, and Alister’s head snaps my way, only now realizing I’ve joined their little party. “Howl. Cammie Baby. What are we up to?”
I cringe on the inside, the notebooks right here, laptop open and blocking my fake girlfriend’s body from my view.
Okay, I guess I’m just out here sounding like a jealous boyfriend.
Which I’m not.
My eyes fall to Cameron’s phone, sitting right there on the table beside her. Not two inches away from her, face up and all.